|
|
Welcome to ArticlesPower.com - Your ultimate article resource on the net.
Articles » Home-&-Family » Pets >> View Article
|
 |
|
 |
| Earn the right to own your animal |
By:
Ambika Shukla |
|
|
Earn the right to own your animal
Accompanying my daughter to a tennis camp being conducted on the premises of a local school, I was surprised to find two horses there. Abandoning all pretence of interest in fore and backhands, I immediately embarked on my own follow through to check out their living conditions, I found one lackadaisical mali sort who claimed to be entrusted with their charge.
I asked him to show me their stables and e took me to a small make shift shed with a tin roof and walls, a crumbling stone food through and heavy iron chains. The tiny area served both as a stable and a store with a huge pile of junk on one side. There was a terrible smell and no water at all. I asked what the horses were fed and he showed me some sacks containing bhusa. As for water, he said that it was given in a bucket.
Even these meager claims turned out to be false. After the tennis lesson, I swung by the stable again. The horses had been tethered, but there was neither food nor water. Nor had the place been cleaned, the floor was strewn with their droppings.
The horse-keeper had disappeared and there was a supervisor who thought it beneath his dignity to worry about animals. The chowkidar disclosed that the school owner, some retired general-type , had used to ride these horses but upon his taking ill some years ago, the horses had become severely neglected.
The following day, looking around for help, I was relieved to find someone who I took to be a teacher. I pointed out that the horses were neither regularly fed nor watered, nor their living area cleaned. He seemed polite and said he would sort it out but never even bothered to look into the stable. Nothing happened. I found the horse-keeper again and once again requested his help to maintain a hygienic environment for the horses. Again I received polite assurances and no action.
Finally I went to the stable myself and found the horses still tethered there. The dung had been swept into a pile bit not removed. There was still no water. When I requested that the horses be let out before it became dark, the rude supervisor became ruder still. I went in search of that "teacher" who turned out to be the general's son and actually no better than his staff.His polite veneer collapsed as he complained about "whacky people like me who got agitated over animals". They'd had horses for 30 years and he didn’t need anyone bossing over them telling them what to do. Yet, in 30 years, this "responsible" owner had no idea that the horses' water trough was never filled because of a rule against standing water on any school premises!
It is frightening to find people who believe that ownership grants them the right to treat animals any which way they like and that being an owner is sufficient condition to know what's best for the animal. Even parents can't be guaranteed to always know or do what's best for their kids. The relationship between an animal and his human keeper is not that of a master and as slave bit of father and child. The animal obeys you, works for you and trusts you with his life.
While some like this school are willfully negligent others are woefully ignorant which brings in the same results. I came across a pug with a diamante collar and leash appropriately if nauseatingly named Diamond. The leash was kept wrapped several times around his mistress’s hand with the poor fellow struggling for room to maneuver. His tongue lolled out of his mouth as he strained and pulled. I explained to the girl how important it was for a dog to sniff and follow scents – it’s his way of exploring the world and to allow him to longer leash.
She listened and seemed to understand but the next time, Diamond was being still being yanked about. These pugs have enlarged hearts and must be prevented from over-exertion.
If you are lucky enough to have an animal sharing your life, please accord him equal consideration. If any of you have children studying at General Raj’s School, Opposite Gulmohar Club, New Delhi, please demand better conditions for those two long-suffering horses. Alternatively, if any one can offer them a home, I will ensure their re-location.
Four Legs and a tale by Ambika Shukla. For more resources and articles, visit www.petfoodindustry.net. |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
